1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a flat panel display having a faceplate, particularly to a method for making the faceplate in the flat panel display, wherein the faceplate is formed by inserting into the faceplate spacers for holding the cell gap of the flat panel display at a uniform distance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Proposed is a flat panel display having spacers positioned between both substrates for maintaining a uniform cell-gap of the display.
With the Field Emission Display (FED) technology, the function of the spacers is especially important because the uniformity of the distance of space formed between the faceplate and the backplate by the spacers greatly increases the uniformity of picture quality.
Since the space, in a field emission display, formed between the two substrates is held at a vacuum of 10.sup.-7 torr, the pressure difference imposed by ambient atmospheric pressure on the flat panel display substrates makes it difficult to maintain a uniform distance between these substrates. In other words, it is more difficult to maintain a constant distance in a flat panel display cell gap of a field emission display than in other displays.
Therefore, in flat panel displays such as field emission displays, spacers are of increasing importance as the size of the displays increases.
The spacer should usually have nonconductive characteristics to prevent electrical breakdown between the anode and cathode arrays, sufficient mechanical strength to prevent the collapse of the flat panel display under ambient atmospheric pressure, stability under electron-impact, and the capacity to withstand the high temperatures (of approximately 400.degree. C.) required to keep the inner space formed between both substrates under a high vacuum. The spacers are further characterized in that their width should be narrow, so that the spacers are not recognizable on the display screen.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,847 a conventional type of flat panel display with the above characteristics in consideration is presented, the display comprising an field emission device completed by fitting one end-side portion of a spacer wall into a gripper formed on the faceplate.
The method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,847 concerns forming a spacer, wherein the aforesaid gripper is formed in the faceplate of field emission device first and then one end-side portion of the spacer is inserted into the formed gripper.
However, in the case when the gripper made for the spacer is poorly formed due to inconsistent layer application during a manufacturing stage, wherein a multi-layer application of gripper-forming material is performed, the alignment of the spacer fixed to the said gripper becomes unstable, with the result that the spacer cannot perform its proper function.
The substrate of the faceplate having structural elements for fixing a spacer, such as the gripper above, may itself be structurally weakened by the fixing of the spacer to the gripper, thus leading to a possible danger of collapse.